Sunday, April 1, 2012

Towpath Half

I hadn't really planned to run a distance race this spring. But Progressive sponsors the Towpath trilogy, offered employees a limited number of free entries, and I got one. That was that.

I'd extended my long runs to the 10-mile range for the last couple of weeks, but didn't really divert from my long term plan. I decided my goal would be just a training run, and compare the effort to my effort at last fall's Towpath half.

Conditions were good. A bit on the chilly side--about 40--but the wind was minimal, and it looked like the rain would hold off. I positioned myself smack in the middle of the pack and off we went.

Less than a mile into it, my heart rate monitor went on the fritz. I hoped it was just a blip, but it continued showing me numbers more like my resting heart rate. It finally landed out altogether at about the halfway point. Hoping it's just a batty battery.

So that left me with RPE and pace. I felt pretty good most of the way. My mile splits over the first 12 were all 9 minutes, give or take about 8 seconds. I had enough in the tank in the last mile to push an 8:25 uphill. Final time was 1:58:45; about 13 seconds slower than my run last fall (for all intents and purposes, the same time). Wish I had that heart rate data.